Three hospitalized after morning pileup
One person flown by helicopter
Three people were taken to area hospitals – two to Kansas City – after a crash involving several vehicles this morning northwest of Lawrence.
Lt. Kari Wempe, a Douglas County Sheriff’s spokeswoman, said a westbound sport-utility vehicle rear-ended a pickup truck and also veered and struck a car at 7:40 a.m. on North 1800 Road, also known as the Farmer’s Turnpike.
Debra Ellebracht, 37, Lawrence, drove the SUV west and did not see that a brown pickup truck had stopped behind a recreational vehicle that was turning left to go south on East 800 Road, known as Trailriders Road, Wempe said.
The SUV stuck the back of the pickup truck – driven by 57-year-old Donald Boose of Lawrence – and then veered north and struck a black Honda car that had stopped in the southbound lane of Trailriders Road. The black Honda – driven by 18-year-old Alyssa Phillips, of Lecompton – was broadsided, Wempe said.
Boose was flown via helicopter ambulance to Kansas University Hospital in Kansas City, Kan., with critical injuries, Wempe said. Bob Hallinan, a hospital spokesman, said an update on his condition was unavailable.
Emergency crews extricated Ellebracht and Phillips from their vehicles. They were both driven by ambulance to Lawrence Memorial Hospital. Ellebracht was transferred to KU Hospital, where a condition report was also unavailable, Hallinan said.
Phillips was still being treated in the LMH emergency room, spokeswoman Janice Early-Weas said.
Wempe said two other eastbound vehicles were involved in a rear-end collision when they came upon the crash in the westbound lane, but no one in those vehicles suffered any injuries.
Officers were still trying to determine the crash’s exact cause.
“At this particular point, no citations have been issued, but it’s still under investigation right now,” Wempe said.
The road is now open.